"Indian" Mangoes

The "Indian" mangoes are just about to be ready for picking! The trees are heavy with fruit, weighing down some branches with as many as a dozen or even more at its end. Some trees look like they bore fruit slightly later than the others, and I hope my sisters and their families will still be picking from the trees when they come from abroad late May!


As much as I search on the web though, I could not find any more information on this particular type of mango. I could not even find its scientific name, all the more how the appellation "Indian" got used with this variety (all mangoes trace its roots in India). Most of the data are about the more exportable "kalabaw" variety (Mangifera indica), hardly on  this type which is smaller, stays green even when ripe, and has a distinct taste and crunchiness that one can't help but go on munching a basket-ful.

And that was exactly what happened in 2009, the season that the trees were so prolific that we estimated the output to be 1.35 tons from nine trees alone! We were stuffed that time, and it felt like mangoes were coming out of our ears.


That was the first season after we cleaned the farm; prior to that I have no clue how much fruit there was when the trees were overwhelmed by vines, ants, and weeds. It felt like they were bursting with energy and mangoes were literally falling off the trees.


Come by the next weeks and pick some for yourselves!

Customized Pandan Baskets

My caretaker's wife, Cristina weaves by hand, rustic baskets out of pandán leaves that grow in the gardens, and I've asked her to customize sizes to hold our assorted household containers. It's awesome enough that we make our own natural and biodegradable containers, but all the more it's remarkable since we simply make use of old leaves from the garden (so now, the pandans are always clean and never have dried leaves left on the shrub!).

But apart from it making your ordinary objects look better, it actually has plenty of other practical purposes. If you use the basket to hold baking dishes (below), it also serves as a tray that absorbs heat and functions like a lightweight trivet. So If any of you want to serve your Pyrex trays from oven to table with its handsomely bespoke lightweight hot mat, Cristina can easily whip up one with precise dimensions to fit them to a T.

Of course, it goes without saying that the same baskets (top, with the flatware) can be used for still so many other things and areas around the house. Below, it can be a workdesk organizer to hold a multitude of small things (that always get misplaced) or further below, a caddy to hold small towels in your powder room.

Flowering Epiphytic Orchids

 It's been more than two years since we've planted epiphytes on the mango trees and this season, two plants whose names I don't even know started to bloom! Nothing beats the immense pleasure of being rewarded with a plant's affirmation that you have taken cared of it well, that it gets itself acclimatized in its new home and starts to flourish and reproduce. Gardening wild plants is tricky and requires a long time, it could never be said enough. But all efforts will pay off once it does thrive, and these two do so very well!

This one on the right, too started to have these minute, pinkish-white blooms this season too. The plant started to adjust quite soon after we planted it but I did not even know that it will start to flower, enchantingly even.


Postscript: I referred the photos to knowledgeable experts via Our Philippine Trees and learned that the orchid on the top and above is called Pinalia polyura while the one on the right is from the Appendicula family. Thanks, Patrick!

From My Library: For the Birds

Now it never occured to me I will ever come across a recipe book to make avian dishes! Gee, the titles one can find in the good old US of A... but, I'm not complaining. A lot of it actually make sense to me but I still cannot help but be amused and find quite preposterous to make a book out of it. I guess the mere fact that I purchased one makes me just as eccentric (and admittedly gullible), hahaha.


Anyway,I will lap up anything that will help increase my bird traffic. The heck, I'll try anything once! Although the birds featured here are North American, a lot of the recipes and its "ingredients" can be transposed to a local tropical setting for our own native species. Now I'll keep this short as I still have to go to the grocery :)

Butaca

Any group who arrives will have someone seated in this planter's chair in the first five minutes. Not only is the shape inviting everyone to lounge, but the texture and airiness of the solíhiya (rattan cane weaving) beckons anyone to relax and unwind with some búco juice to boot!

It is actually a contemporary piece; something that I had customized some years back when the cabaňa was new. It is made of mulawin (also known as molave, a local tropical hardwood) that resists rotting even if exposed to the elements. I had the dimensions slightly exaggerated to make it roomier, so it feels more like a day bed than a chaise longue.